As you enter Victor’s Coffee Company in Redmond, the warm, sweet aromas of freshly roasted coffee beans, chocolate, hazelnut, cinnamon and nutmeg embrace you. The golden tones of wide-wood boards gleam under the soft light, while luminescent, ruby and sun-hued bottles of Italian soda paint a rainbow on the wall behind the counter. Loose-leaf teas sit on a pantry shelf behind the drip-coffee bar, where the spirit of Victor’s is evident in the honor-code jar for coffee payment.

“Its atmosphere has a lot of character. With the wood floor and the fireplace, it's a really comforting place to be on a dark winter day,” says Danny Beard, a long-time devotee to the café. “It feels like it's been there for a long time, like it's always been a gathering place where people meet up at the end of their day. It makes Redmond feel like those small towns that are always in movies, where everyone always hangs out at that one diner.”

Victor’s Coffee Company adds a little bit of city spice to the Eastside, with its suburban shopping centers and serene neighborhoods. Situated between a three-lane, one-way street and the two roads that diagonally intersect it, Victor’s is one of the few remaining places in Old Redmond that still feels old.

When I first moved to Redmond 13 years ago, the city was quaint and “Downtown” featured family owned businesses that were welcoming and quirky.

In those days, the charming, faded brick building across the railway line housed kids’ musical theater performances of You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown. In the rear of the building, a shop of magical ambiance sold gleaming crystals, semi-precious shimmering stones, and selections of music with titles like “Sounds of the Sea” and “Celestial Secrets.” And just across the street, crammed into a tiny corner, was a coffee shop that served as the local hangout.

My family would visit the shop twice a week throughout my childhood. The electric coffee-lady with frizzy hair piled on her head and brightly painted smiling eyes would loudly greet my parents and me, having already prepared my delicious, strawberry Italian soda with the chocolate stick on the side. I would stare, amused, at the “Twelve Days of Coffee” that decorated the shop’s chalkboard while the coffee-lady chatted away.

None of these places remain, and their departure created a void in Old Redmond. In came the perfectly designed outdoor mall, corporate movie theaters, restaurant chains and sterile freeways. Out went the small-town vibe.

Owners Victor and Jane Harding opened Victor’s just as the Old Redmond scene was going out.

The Beard family, a former Redmond couple with two college-age children, has been going to Victor’s for years. They tell me how Victor’s began as a small Avondale coffee stand in 1987 and then expanded into the worn-in, log-cabin-like shop in Redmond.

Almost all of Victor’s employees know the Beard family. The comfort level sometimes results in good-humored paper-napkin fights and sneakily flavored beverages.

On this particular cloudy evening, customers everywhere are deep in conversation; some have even ventured to the outdoor seating despite the rain. There are many explanations for the presence of committed customers at Victor’s:

“First of all, the coffee is better than any other place around,” Danny Beard said. “Second, the people that work there are great and get to know all the regulars pretty well; it almost feels like a family gathering. It's also a great meeting place, and I run into people I know there all the time."

At the cash register, rows of soft cookies and trademark chocolate-covered and seasonal, pumpkin-flavored waffles prepare customers for the menu of specialty coffees: a Banana Split in a mug, a swirling cup of cinnamon and espresso covered in whip cream and a chocolate treat called Black Forest.

For customers who favor simple, straightforward coffee, the traditional espresso drinks are made with beans freshly roasted on site.

“They’re roasting it. They’re roasting the beans right now!” exclaims one customer to his three companions. A huge glass window allows customers to see the entire roasting process. One by one, the customers squeeze out from behind the wooden table and bench to watch the beans roast.

The Beards and I order a triple tall vanilla latte, a Nudge and a Yerba Mate (a strangely tasty murky tea). We sit and sip, soaking in the atmosphere and enjoying our time as the late afternoon fades away.

As Danny Beard said, "It’s like the ‘Cheers’ of Redmond.”